The latest drought has roiled the state’s agricultural heartland, causing job losses in rural communities, fallowed fields, and dropping groundwater levels. Increased groundwater pumping helped minimize economic losses for many farmers, but this could prove unsustainable in some areas during longer droughts.
We interviewed Richard Howitt—professor emeritus of agricultural and resource economics at the University of California, Davis, and a Steyer Fellow with the PPIC Water Policy Center—on what can be done to make California’s agricultural economy more resilient to future droughts.
Read our report What If California’s Drought Continues? (August 2015)
Read an interview with Howitt on Water Deeply (February 26, 2016)
Visit the PPIC Water Policy Center